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Ordaining women is not a new idea. Adherence to this heresy is widespread in the Indian church. The first time that I wrote about it was in my 119-page April 2010 [updated April 2012] report NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 15-DEMAND FOR ORDINATION OF WOMEN PRIESTS-FR SUBHASH ANAND AND OTHERS http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_15-DEMAND_FOR_ORDINATION_OF_WOMEN_PRIESTSFR_SUBHASH_ANAND_AND_OTHERS.doc In that report, no. 15 of a series on a Bombay-archdiocese backed Hinduised "bible" with imprimatur, I documented that Fr. Subhash Anand [a diocesan priest based in St. Paul's School, Udaipur] and others do not believe that the cultic priesthood was instituted by Jesus Christ and would like to see it scrapped altogether, ushering in a priesthood of believers, non-ordained persons, whereby the members of the congregation become co-celebrants at Holy Mass, having the authority and power to transform the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. This has long been proposed as a solution to the "shortage of priests". The other alternative of course is to ordain women, which Fr. Subhash Anand and other "theologians" such as Virginia Saldanha, Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, a coterie of feminist nuns and some religious brothers and priests are ferociously advocating. The first articles in the women priests series, published April/May 2012, are VIRGINIA SALDANHA-ECCLESIA OF WOMEN IN ASIA AND CATHERINE OF SIENA VIRTUAL COLLEGE-FEMINIST THEOLOGY AND THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN PRIESTS http://ephesians-511.net/docs/VIRGINIA_SALDANHAECCLESIA_OF_WOMEN_IN_ASIA_AND_CATHERINE_OF_SIENA_VIRTUAL_COLLEGEFEMINIST_THEOLOGY_AND_THE_ORDINATION_OF_WOMEN_PRIESTS.doc VIRGINIA SALDANHA-WOMENPRIESTS INFILTRATES THE INDIAN CHURCH-CATHERINE OF SIENA VIRTUAL COLLEGE http://ephesians-511.net/docs/VIRGINIA_SALDANHA-WOMENPRIESTS_INFILTRATES_THE_INDIAN_CHURCHCATHERINE_OF_SIENA_VIRTUAL_COLLEGE.doc Virginia Saldanha is on the board of the Union of Catholic Asian News [UCAN] and Astrid Lobo Gajiwala is on important Bombay archdiocesan executive bodies such as its weekly magazine The Examiner, etc. Just three weeks ago, on January 24, I had published a report WOMEN PRIESTS-THE NCR-UCAN-EWA NEXUS http://ephesians-511.net/docs/WOMEN_PRIESTS-THE_NCR-UCAN-EWA_NEXUS.doc on the "nexus" between UCAN and like-minded in the West, example the editor of and contributors to the National Catholic Reporter [NCR], and in India who clamour for ordaining women as priests. An honest, prophetic and bold U.S. Bishop, Robert Finn, recently declared that the NCR cannot licitly be called Catholic. On February 13, 2013, in its inimitable style, UCAN reproduced a report, published only a few hours earlier by the liberal-left, New Age-promoting U.S. news web site and blog, The Huffington Post, with the headline, "One way to solve the priest shortage: do away with them"! This was reported by me the same day in UCAN WANTS TO DO AWAY WITH THE PRIESTHOOD http://ephesians-511.net/docs/UCAN_WANTS_TO_DO_AWAY_WITH_THE_PRIESTHOOD.doc In concluding the last referred report, I posed two questions:
Asias leading Catholic news agency, UCAN, continues its campaign for women priests through an ecumenical woman theologian
1. What is UCAN doing reproducing trash by a dissenting Catholic from a New Age blog? 2. When is an Indian bishop or the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India or the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences going to unequivocally condemn this anti-Catholic news agency that calls itself "Catholic"?
What does [all] this, in conjunction with all of the other evidence compiled and presented by me, reveal about the true nature of UCAN?
Well, hardly a day later, UCAN was at it again, thus answering our question. They make it plainly obvious that they have a dual agenda, eliminate the cultic priesthood/ordain women. Here, UCAN becomes the conduit for a Hindu call to, among other things, ordain women!
ii) Daisy L. Machado, Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of the History of Christianity; first U.S. Latina ordained in a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Some of Unions former faculty: i) Fr. Raymond E. Brown, S.S. (19281998), a theologian who denied the inerrancy of the whole of Scripture and cast doubt on the historical accuracy of numerous articles of the Catholic faith. Conservatives were angered at his questioning of whether the virginal conception of Jesus could be proven historically. ii) Fr. Roger Haight SJ, a dissenting theologian who, in 2004, was banned by the Holy See from teaching. Lizares-Bodegons theological positions are therefore tainted by Protestantism, liberalism and New Age. But Lizares-Bodegon also writes regularly for UCAN. Here are 3 of her recent contributions in just 3 weeks:
1. Women's ordination - the elephant in the room Church must face up to the issue now http://www.ucanews.com/news/womens-ordination-the-elephant-in-the-room/67221 By Sophia Lizares Bodegon, January 25, 2013
To be expelled from friendship circles and driven away from the sources of life is a death sentence. Few people know this better than India's Dalits, or Untouchables, who are considered the most polluted and polluting of peoples. Almost 80 percent of Indian Christians have Dalit backgrounds. Many of them are martyrs for the faith, suffering expulsion from their villages. They may not buy food from the village shop, nor can they draw water from the village well. But there is another looming issue of disunity. The Catholic Church continues to disqualify half its membership from leadership because they are women and to expel members who challenge that policy. In a time of prayer for Christian unity, it is an elephant in the room. Threats of excommunication hang above the heads of clergy, particularly those who support the ordination of women as priests. During this week, Tony Flannery, a Redemptorist Irish priest who has been threatened with excommunication by the Vatican, broke his silence. In a widely-published statement, Flannery declared the centrality of being Catholic to his personal identity. No matter what sanctions the Vatican imposes on me I will continue, in whatever way I can, to try to bring about reform in the Church and to make it again a place where all who want to follow Christ will be welcome," he said. Pointing out how Christ made friends with the outcasts of society, he vowed to continue to oppose the current Vatican trend of creating a Church of condemnation rather than one of compassion. For Flannery, giving up the freedom of thought, freedom of speech and most especially freedom of conscience is too high a price for me to pay to be allowed to minister in todays Church. In November, the Vatican dismissed Roy Bourgeois, an American priest from the Maryknoll order, for supporting womens ordinations. Female theologians such as Elizabeth Johnson have similarly been sanctioned. A day before the Week of Prayer started on January 18, Sri Lankan theologian Tissa Balasuriya passed away. He too supported womens ordination and is the only Asian to have been excommunicated. Despite the threats, resolute conversations continue. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) in October, an international group of theologians presented A Catholic Scholars Declaration, with a blueprint for a new system of authority, based on Gospel teaching and genuine co-responsibility as demanded by Vatican II. The declaration stressed standards of openness, accountability and democracy achieved in modern society. Leadership should be seen to be honest and credible; inspired by humility and service; breathing concern for people rather than preoccupation with rules and discipline; radiating a Christ who makes us free; and listening to Christ's Spirit who speaks and acts through each and every person. The theme of this years Week of Prayer came from Micah 6:6-8: What does God require of us? This question refers not just to relationships outside the churches, but also to those within and those who struggle to remain within. Clearly, Lizares-Bodegon weighs in on the side of sanctioned and excommunicated priests and nuns. In the following piece, she questions the "moral authority" of the Catholic Church, apparently forgetting -because of her evangelical exposure -- that it is the only Church that derives it directly from Jesus Christ. She uses the old stick of the cover up, by some bishops, of sexual abuse with which to beat the Church. Lizares-Bodegon -- and UCAN -- might take a long, hard and close look at some of the Protestant churches with which she associates, after reading this. I quote a Jewish writer, The press is vindictive and trying to totally denigrate in every way the Catholic Church in this country. They have blamed the disease of pedophilia on the Catholic Church, which is as irresponsible as blaming adultery on the institution of marriage. Let me give you some figures that Catholics should know and remember. For example, 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38% acknowledged other inappropriate sexual contact in a study by the United Methodist Church, 41.8% of clergy women reported unwanted sexual behavior; 17% of laywomen have been sexually harassed. Meanwhile, 1.7% of the Catholic clergy has been found guilty of pedophilia. 10% of the Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia. This is not a Catholic problem. Source: http://fratres.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/redemption-comes-through-the-jews-jewish-businessman-sam-miller-whapsanti-catholic-bias-in-news-media-full-text/ By Sam Miller, June 24, 2008
2. Shining a light on the Church's dark secrets Without transparency, how can there be moral authority? http://www.ucanews.com/news/shining-a-light-on-the-churchs-dark-secrets/67367 By Sophia Lizares Bodegon, February 8, 2013
In the following UCAN article, Lizares-Bodegon pontificates [pun intended] on the new Pope.
EWA "liturgies" appear to be horrible, irreverent aberrations of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with unique rubrics, inclusive language, OM chanting and "Shri Ram"s. See text and scandalous pictures, pages 13-15 of VIRGINIA SALDANHA-ECCLESIA OF WOMEN IN ASIA AND CATHERINE OF SIENA VIRTUAL COLLEGE-FEMINIST THEOLOGY AND THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN PRIESTS http://ephesians-511.net/docs/VIRGINIA_SALDANHAECCLESIA_OF_WOMEN_IN_ASIA_AND_CATHERINE_OF_SIENA_VIRTUAL_COLLEGEFEMINIST_THEOLOGY_AND_THE_ORDINATION_OF_WOMEN_PRIESTS.doc